Crabbe and the Kings Gambit - E. Atkinson

England 1811. Thomas Crabbe has just entered the ailing George III's navy as a young cadet. After a running battle with an American privateer ship, an injury confines him to the galley as the ship's cook.
While there he befriends an indentured African and the ship’s cat. Their ship is captured and the three friends are seized as prisoners of war, but a twist of Fate separates them, changing the course of their lives. Thomas is swept into a world of intrigue, which takes him to the heart of Paris, exciting but treacherous.
In England the Prince Regent waits impatiently to ascend the throne.
As political unrest builds, across the channel the former Emperor of the French, Bonaparte, is rattling his sabre.
Can a cat-loving cook save Europe from impending war? Will the unlikelist of friendships endure and stand the test of time?